AgentSkillsCN

databricks-unity-catalog

Unity Catalog 系统表与存储卷。当您查询系统表（审计、血缘、计费）或进行存储卷文件操作（上传、下载、列出 /Volumes/ 中的文件）时，可选用此方案。

SKILL.md
--- frontmatter
name: databricks-unity-catalog
description: "Unity Catalog system tables and volumes. Use when querying system tables (audit, lineage, billing) or working with volume file operations (upload, download, list files in /Volumes/)."

Unity Catalog

Guidance for Unity Catalog system tables, volumes, and governance.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

  • •Working with volumes (upload, download, list files in /Volumes/)
  • •Querying lineage (table dependencies, column-level lineage)
  • •Analyzing audit logs (who accessed what, permission changes)
  • •Monitoring billing and usage (DBU consumption, cost analysis)
  • •Tracking compute resources (cluster usage, warehouse metrics)
  • •Reviewing job execution (run history, success rates, failures)
  • •Analyzing query performance (slow queries, warehouse utilization)

Reference Files

TopicFileDescription
System Tables5-system-tables.mdLineage, audit, billing, compute, jobs, query history
Volumes6-volumes.mdVolume file operations, permissions, best practices

Quick Start

Volume File Operations (MCP Tools)

python
# List files in a volume
list_volume_files(volume_path="/Volumes/catalog/schema/volume/folder/")

# Upload file to volume
upload_to_volume(
    local_path="/tmp/data.csv",
    volume_path="/Volumes/catalog/schema/volume/data.csv"
)

# Download file from volume
download_from_volume(
    volume_path="/Volumes/catalog/schema/volume/data.csv",
    local_path="/tmp/downloaded.csv"
)

# Create directory
create_volume_directory(volume_path="/Volumes/catalog/schema/volume/new_folder")

Enable System Tables Access

sql
-- Grant access to system tables
GRANT USE CATALOG ON CATALOG system TO `data_engineers`;
GRANT USE SCHEMA ON SCHEMA system.access TO `data_engineers`;
GRANT SELECT ON SCHEMA system.access TO `data_engineers`;

Common Queries

sql
-- Table lineage: What tables feed into this table?
SELECT source_table_full_name, source_column_name
FROM system.access.table_lineage
WHERE target_table_full_name = 'catalog.schema.table'
  AND event_date >= current_date() - 7;

-- Audit: Recent permission changes
SELECT event_time, user_identity.email, action_name, request_params
FROM system.access.audit
WHERE action_name LIKE '%GRANT%' OR action_name LIKE '%REVOKE%'
ORDER BY event_time DESC
LIMIT 100;

-- Billing: DBU usage by workspace
SELECT workspace_id, sku_name, SUM(usage_quantity) AS total_dbus
FROM system.billing.usage
WHERE usage_date >= current_date() - 30
GROUP BY workspace_id, sku_name;

MCP Tool Integration

Use mcp__databricks__execute_sql for system table queries:

python
# Query lineage
mcp__databricks__execute_sql(
    sql_query="""
        SELECT source_table_full_name, target_table_full_name
        FROM system.access.table_lineage
        WHERE event_date >= current_date() - 7
    """,
    catalog="system"
)

Best Practices

  1. •Filter by date - System tables can be large; always use date filters
  2. •Use appropriate retention - Check your workspace's retention settings
  3. •Grant minimal access - System tables contain sensitive metadata
  4. •Schedule reports - Create scheduled queries for regular monitoring

Resources